The Neighbor Next Door

panic

[I DON'T KNOW WHY THIS ONE WAS STUCK IN DRAFT HEAD IN HANDS. THIS GOES BETWEEN THE PARTS "TRYING TO FIX WHAT'S BROKEN" & "TRYING". PLEASE KEEP THAT IN MIND IDK IF PEOPLE WILL GET NOTIFIED WHEN I PUBLISH THIS BUT THIS IS NOT A NEW PART]

It was just a lot of waiting, and hoping really. 3gs had mailed in the broken glasses to be fixed or replaced just before he had left, having done some searching to figure out how to deal with that so MePhone would at least be able to see again when he got up, so there was at least that to immediately wait for. It was Tuesday now, and OJ was making dinner for himself and his kids. The two were sitting at the table, just talking to each other about something that happened at school, OJ just idly listening in as he stirred the meat in the pan he was focused on currently. There really wasn't much he could do these days except for act like everything was fine, and that his partner wasn't basically in some sort of robot coma. Before he had been brought over the other day, TestTube had been asked to check on him again, but she didn't find anything else beyond what she had to initially fix to be broken or out of place. There wasn't anything else she could do, and OJ was grateful she was able to do anything at all, really, but it was still just... Annoying that this didn't seem to fix anything. He was still asleep, and still unresponsive.

Though despite all the things bringing his mood constantly down, he was a little glad to have the cat in his house again. It was here too, since MePhone was in no state to take care of it, so he was taking on feeding it and keeping it well for the time being. It seemed to like the house enough, but it often was found in the guest room with MePhone, sleeping or sitting or just doing whatever cats do on the foot of the bed he was in. It was almost like the cat was waiting for him to get better or something. Either way, it was welcome to wait with the rest of them.

OJ blinked back into focus as one of his kids raised their voice a bit, directly asking him a question;

"Hey dad, are we gonna put a christmas tree up this year?" A question from Ry, that very jarringly reminded him it was december now. He knew it was still definitely really early in the month, but he had been so distracted he hadn't even brought the small tree they usually put up out of the box yet. He hadn't done any decorating! Oh Gods he had to get on that immediately, something to definitely throw himself into so he could avoid thinking about how serious everything was currently. He didn't... He didn't even know if MePhone really celebrated christmas, either. He'd have to find out if-- ... When. When he woke up again... If he would want to be involved. Yeah.

He quickly blinked back to the present as Ry called to him again, a bit more concern in his tone.

"Oh-- um, yeah we'll get it up soon. I'll... Set it up soon, and we can all decorate it together." OJ gave a small smile to the two, before focusing on finishing up cooking. He could focus on this, and throw himself into the festive mood. That... Would do him some good.

...

3gs was back home, but he didn't feel any less guilty. He had stayed at that home a lot longer than he ever wanted to, and as glad as he was to be out of there again finally, he was worried, and guilty. He didn't want to leave his brother alone, but... OJ was there for that now. To keep an eye on him, and he was grateful the other agreed. 3gs just... Needed time out of that house so he could reflect, and try to forgive himself for all of this. He refused to let himself fall back into old habits. He was just glad he had Knife to help him with that now, at least. It was nice coming home, and finally being able to be with his fiance again in person. The phone calls just weren't enough at some point, but the physical proximity alone helped, and... The fact he had the money for the first major house payment because of the will reading also helped him at least try to keep his mood up now. He just had a life to finally get back to, and he was glad he and his fiance could get the house soon, meaning the wedding realistically could also be soon. They weren't exactly sure if the timing was going to work out with their spring wedding plan, but with this extra cash, it really did.